a quarterly report by - Technopak

perspective
a quar terly repor t by
Volume 02 / 2009
| Volume 02
One remarkable example of a ‘revolutionary’ in social media space is Dell. Social media is the core to
the company’s marketing strategy with multiple groups on various social media sites to cater to different
customer segments. These include:
•Dell Forum: To interact, ask questions, and give suggestions about computer & electronics technology
• StudioDell: An interactive helpdesk for consumers, SMEs & IT professionals
• Direct2Dell: Dell’s official corporate blog to enable sharing of thoughts
• Dell@DellOutlet: A twitter account that tweets out major discounts for Dell computers and products
• Dell Ideastorm: A website by the company to post, vote for and see ideas becoming a reality
Dell has used all these platforms not just to reach out to its existing and future customers but also to
generate new product ideas and even revenue by achieving sales worth millions.
HP has achieved remarkable success in branding its products by engaging the consumer - enabling
people to express themselves in a creative manner. Apart from connecting with consumers, companies
like IBM and Best Buy have taken social media to a different level. While IBM uses social media to foster
collaboration with stakeholders as well as to connect with its employees across the globe, bridge the
geographic boundaries and bring in transparency, Best Buy uses it to bring in a cultural shift in the
organization, make staff more customer-oriented and foster innovation. Hyatt Hotels use social media
(Twitter – the microblogging platform) to provide customer support through their online concierge service.
Companies across variety of industries such as hospitality, travel and tourism, banking and financial services,
life sciences, retail and consumer products, airlines, automobiles , fashion, education and many more are
exploring social media to tap opportunities in market research, brand building , product promotion, product
development, customer service, collaboration with stakeholders, employee engagement, and recruitment
etc. Exhibit 6 highlights some successful cases where social media has been leveraged effectively for
business benefits.
Exhibit 6
Successful Use of Social Media
Area Company Activity Undertaken Impact
Increasing Brand
Awareness
Adobe
Product Promotion MTV India
Product Development Dell
Employee
Engagement
IBM
Taking Social Media beyond Business Use
Actively holding consumer interest through
engagement ads on social networks – Set up of an
Online Game
Capitalizing on social media to keep the show buzz
alive -Creation of an online and highly interactive
model of the real game show
Partnering with customers to contribute to, and
integrated into, Dell’s product development
Multiple in- house versions of web 2.0 with the
intention of bringing employees, alumni, partners,
vendors, and customers together
• The game was played more than 14,000 times
during the 1 month campaign
• Rise in page view by over 48,000 a week
• Over 40,000 fans on Facebook
• 12,511 ideas contributed to community, with
86,255 comments
• 366 ideas implemented leading to launch of
‘Latitute’ Laptop.
• 60,000 blog users, 17,000 different blogs, 1 Mn
page views per day on internal wikis
• Launch of corporate social networking
visualisation and analysis tools like ‘Atlas’
The usage of social media has not been limited to just B2C or B2B areas. Rather, the emerging media has
had far reaching effects on a multitude of other sectors like politics, social service, defense services etc.
Many of us are not aware of the role that social media (besides the internet and mobile devices) played in
building the brand ‘Obama’ and in turning the tide in Obama’s favor in the recent US presidential elections.
An effective strategy was adopted to build the campaign leveraging on the strengths of the social media
network. The campaign’s reach across social networking was enormous in scope, with a presence on
Social Media : An Emerging Medium for Business Growth | 80